Corporate travel technology providers are seizing on this week's launch of the Google Apps Marketplace to target small and midsize companies with Web-based scaled-down versions of their products distributed through the online storefront.
The Google Apps Marketplace is a platform designed for small and midsize enterprises to acquire Web-based applications that integrate with Google-built Apps, including Gmail, Calendar and Docs, and then access them through a single Google sign-on. More than 40 companies have introduced apps for business processes, including customer relationship management, e-billing and accounting.
Coinciding with the launch of the Apps Marketplace, Concur released Concur Breeze, an expense reporting application with a simpler pricing model specifically designed for small and midsize companies
(BTNonline, March 10).
Itinerary management and social communications platform TripIt this week also released a Google Apps Marketplace version of its community platform product, letting corporations form traveler groups based on e-mail domains and travelers share their itineraries with others from their organizations.
TripIt president Gregg Brockway, who previously founded online travel company Hotwire, said the influence of an apps marketplace like Google's depends on corporations' growing need to have interoperable and integrated technology systems.
"It depends on how the travel technology providers choose to participate in this marketplace," he said. "If nobody in the travel industry decides that this is a great way to serve clients, then nothing will happen. I'm sure we are going to see a lot of activity around this. Google has created an ecosystem here, which is a unique and very attractive way for applications to make their services available to companies and makes it easy for companies to have services that work together."
The Google Apps Marketplace also presents a potentially cheaper alternative for corporate travel products.
Amadeus is evaluating whether any current or future applications could be made available through such new distribution platforms, according to Amadeus North America director of product management and support services Alix Arguelles.
"Amadeus has taken a pretty strong stance in that it is not going to compete with its customers. Going direct to consumers or companies is a bit of an issue for us because we don't want to compete with our travel agencies," she said. "We have to be careful as to how we enter that space. We don't want to be a competitor. We want to be a partner."